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User blog:PullingoffMasks/Let's talk insanity and suicide
Subheading: Since it seems that there's a basic misunderstanding about these two, rather simple, concepts Let me start by saying that this is an off shoot of the "Mental Health and Your Fear Blog" post I did last week. Let the record also show that this is response to an edit comment I have made on someone's wiki post, as I do think it does need to be aired. (And yes, I know I'm being a bitch, but seriously, suicide is not a 'joke' topic, nor is it something to take as a flippant 'welp characterization by something terrible!' topic) Okydoke, let me start with the easy one INSANITY Insanity is a legal term Let me repeat that again Insanity is defined by the courts, NOT psychologists/psychiatrists. It's quite simple really. Insanity is a legal definition which makes an individual unable to stand trial in a court of law due to their mental state. It's a HUGE freakin' term, but it boils down to: If you have NOT been to court, you CANNOT be deemed insane. ''' ''Insanity'', if a breakdown is needed, ''is any situation where an individual is deemed by FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGISTS'' (specializing in behavioural and abnormal psychology) ''to be unable to stand trial.'' Now, this can be for many reasons. Developmental delays often get branded as insanity by the courts, as does schizotypical disorders/schizophrenia...as does borderline personality disorder...as can manic depression/bipolar disorder/mood disorder with hypomania, etc. Thus, by calling your character 'insane,' you imply that the individual has gone to court and has had a forensic psychologist deem them unfit to stand trial. Now, considering the common usage of the term on the wiki, I don't think this is the case. So, what other, non-ableist words can you use? The individual/being could be an actual diagnosis label, if they are human. If they are a Fear, they could be 'unstable' (which inches into questionable territory), 'changeable,' 'unpredicatable,' 'dangerous,' or any other manner of weighted terms, WHICH AREN'T LEGAL IN NATURE! Suicide, suicidal thoughts, and what this can mean '''This is something I do NOT like people taking as a 'well, CHARACTER TRAIT!" sort of thing. Least of all since it is often written in such a manner as it trivializes the fact that suicidal idelation/thoughts are one of the suckiest things to have to deal with. While I cannot say that everyone with suicidal thoughts is completely aware of their thought process, given I am one person speaking from personal experience and researc'''h, I will say that it something that there is some awareness of when the thoughts occur. You can have periods where 'suicide' is the main thought (along the lines of "wonder how long it would take me to die if I slit my wrists with on hand"), but you can equally have days where you're honestly considered 'not to be suicidal (but, honestly, if I just walked out into traffic, no one would really care).' It can be a time consuming thought process...but on the same hand, it can just be one of those 'oh, that's a nasty thought' things. All depends on what's going on with everything in addition to the suicidal thoughts. '''But, at the end of the day, suicidal thoughts ARE NOT a CHARACTER TRAIT/PERSONALITY TYPE. To put it down as such, cheapens the experience of actual individuals who are going through them...and is kinda uncomfortable to read as a character trait. A character can be gloomy, a negative personality, realist, spoil sport, pessamist, etc., all of which are personality types. But suicidal? Not a personality type. Reckless, feckless, foolish, fool hardy, risk taker, ner-do-well, etc. 'PERSONALITY TYPES, all of which are often considered synonymous to risk taking behaviour that border/are self terminating. ' Category:Blog posts Category:Writing advice Category:Suicide Category:HUGE TRIGGER WARNING